Cordoba, Spain

The Mezquita

Inside Casa Andalus

On January 2, my first adventure of the year, I went with Ralph, Abby, and Ralph's mom, Elena, to Cordoba.  Cordoba was a quaint city that reminded me a lot of Sevilla, just smaller and less busy.  We spent most of the day on Sunday walking around… having the worst meal ever for lunch… but exploring  through the quiet cobblestone streets with picturesque patios and apartments.  In the evening we went tapas hopping.  I tried for the first time rabo de toro (bull's tail) and it was really good, tasted like pot roast, but it was so expensive! I love tapa hopping! The next morning we went to the Mezquita, which was right across from our hotel.  Everywhere around the Mezquita, or rather most of Cordoba, Spanish Christmas carols were playing.  EVERYWHERE.  In the streets, restaurants, bathrooms… there was no escape.  It was enough to make you go a little crazy!  Anyway, the Mezquita was really beautiful, but I was hoping for something a little more "mosque-y" in nature.  Mezquita means mosque in Spanish.  The inside architecture was that of a mosque, but all of the decorations were Catholic, since it had been converted.  We did some more walking around after the Mezquita and went to a little "museum" called Casa Andalus, which was an apartment/house that was decorated like it would have been in the past.  It was so beautiful! That was my favorite part of the whole trip! We took the train back at the end of the day.  Overall, Cordoba was very pretty, but a little too tranquilo for me.  

Feliz Ano 2011!!!

Abby, Kelly, and Annie

All the yummy Filipino food Ralph's mom cooked us!

Freaking out trying to finish my grapes in time!

Mouths stuffed with grapes!

New Years this year was pretty low key.  I went over to Abby's apartment for dinner, which was Filipino food that Ralph's mom made us.  It was so yummy!  When it got closer to midnight, we turned on the TV to see the Spanish New Years shows, which were all musical performers, and the host that literally changed her dress between every song... it was absurd! We saw her in at least 7 or 8 outfits!!! The tradition here in Spain is that at midnight, when the clock has its 12 strokes of midnight, you are supposed to eat your 12 grapes.  If you complete in time, you will have good luck.  If not... well, that is not good.  The problem with this is, the grapes here in Spain are very difficult for this task.  They are HUGE and they have SEEDS in them! With all the pressure to finish all the grapes, I found myself wondering how many people choke to death each New Year.  I mean, it was stressful! Seconds never went by so fast! I tried my damnedest to get all those grapes in on time, but to no avail.  It looks like everyone there will be having bad luck this year, except for Annie, who is apparently the grape eating champion.  She had her game face on and everything!  Even when we tried to cheat a little and de-seed some of the grapes, it was still just so hard! Anyway, Happy New Year! 1-1-11!!!!

My Christmas Present!!!

Flamenco dancer at the show in Madrid

Ham Museum!

My adorable mother... freezing to death!

Parque de Retiro in Madrid

Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas Eve dinner

Sierra Nevada Mountains

Having tapas!

At the mirador in Guadix

The Ronda bridge by night

Ronda bridge by day

View of the gorge in Ronda

Brennen in bull ring in Ronda

My mother is better than these trees!!!

So, this Christmas I got a really great Christmas present of getting to have my family come visit me for about a week! They were due to arrive Monday, December 20, but due to the London airport being closed, they didn't arrive until Tuesday evening… without their luggage.  Needless to say, they were all very exhausted, but we still went out to two different tapas places in my neighborhood for dinner before crashing.  The next morning, after making breakfast at my place and then going to Alcampo (basically the Spanish Wal-Mart) to buy some things to tie them over until the suitcases were found and returned, we started our drive to Madrid.  It was quite the interesting journey, with the GPS taking us through mini creeks and through very empty terrain… but eventually we made it to Madrid in the evening.  As soon as we checked in to our apartment hotel, we took taxis to this flamenco restaurant that we had reservations for.  We got a few tapas there, including acorn-fed ham (haha), and watched a very cool flamenco show.  The flamenco show was so different then the one I had previously seen.  These costumes were a lot more flashy and it was a totally different style.  The next day we headed out for the Royal Palace, only to find out that it was closed for some sort of ceremony, but it was still cool from the outside and the walk there was very beautiful.  We went to check out Plaza Mayor, and saw a band playing Christmas songs.  We went in to the Mercado San Miguel, which was really cool.  They sell EVERYTHING! We had lunch at a little kebab place and then set out for the Museo del Prado.  It is such a famous museum, but we weren't the biggest fans because all of the art in it was religious, and it gets really repetitive and gruesome. After returning to the apartment for a nap, we went out for a walk and ended up at a restaurant where we had some of the best paella I have had here in Spain.  The next day, we went for a walk through Parque del Retiro, which was very similar to Central Park in New York.  It was a nice leisurely stroll in the cold before we headed back to Granada for a Christmas Eve dinner with my friends.  Upon arrival in Granada, we were happy to have received 4 out of 5 suitcases that had been delivered to my friend Abby's place while we were in Madrid.  Brennen was still left without his suitcase… but it was good to have most of them! We went for dinner at Abby's apartment where Ralph and his mom, Elena, joined us.  We feasted and had a lot of wine and sang Christmas carols and had a great time.  The next day, Christmas, we had to wait around the apartment for Brennen's suitcase, which was supposedly found, that was supposed to be there by noon, but didn't arrive until around 7:30!  We took turns going on walks around Granada and I showed off my city a little bit.  On Sunday, we went for a long walk in the Albycin neighborhood that is very beautiful and then after grabbing a bite to eat, headed up the hill to tour the Alhambra.  I had been once before, but it is still very beautiful every time! We met up with Ralph, Abby, and Ralph's mom again after the Alhambra and did a little tapa touring.  We went to many places and it was a fun experience! Monday morning, we packed up very tightly in the car and headed to Alfacar, my pueblo where I work, to drive around so my family could see where I go every week.  There isn't much to Alfacar, so after about 10 minutes, we commenced to Guadix, which is famous for their cave dwellings.  The drive there was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on.  When we got to Guadix, we went in to the Cave Museum, where the lady was very informative and it was pretty interesting.  It was just a cave house set up how it would have looked in the past.  We went in to the cave church as well.  They have everything in caves up there! Houses, churches, restaurants… We went up to the mirador (lookout) to see over the city, which was very pretty, but kind of dumpy up there.  It was surprising that the people didn't take care of their city, especially a tourist attraction.  We had lunch in the city center where we had a view of the pretty cathedral and main square, but after lunch, headed out to Ronda.  We arrived to Ronda just as it was getting dark.  The cobblestone streets were very narrow and picturesque, and quite scary to drive on.  We went for a walk to see the main bridge by night and walked along the main shopping street and stopped at a bar for some drinks before dinner.  Ronda is such a beautiful town! After discovering that our recommended restaurant was closed, we headed to another one recommended by the woman that runs the hotel.  Oh, my, gosh.  Hands down, the BEST meal I have EVER had! We had local wine from Ronda, bread with "el mejor aceite en todo el mundo" (the best olive oil in the whole world) with black salt, and then I had this fish with raisins, pine nuts, veggies in juices of perfection…. Wow, I can not stop thinking about how awesome this meal was.  We retired to our hotel where my bed was one of the best beds I have ever slept in and woke up refreshed in the morning to have a traditional Spanish breakfast.  Now, Spanish breakfasts aren't really anything to get too excited about, because they are just tostadas (toast) with either olive oil, tomato, or butter on top.  But, I just wanted to show my family a little tradition.  We went to see the amazing views of the bridge and gorge by day, which were also one of the most astounding views I have ever seen.  We walked along the edge of the gorge and ended up at the bull ring, which if I am not mistaken, is the oldest one in Spain.  It had a museum inside as well.  We walked around some more and then left for Gibraltar.  We were running out of time so before checking in to our hotel, which was about 10 minutes outside of Gibraltar, we went straight there.  Much to my disappointment, I had forgotten my passport, so I couldn't go in.  The boys went in while I walked around the pretty dingy town of La Linea with mi madre.  The boys enjoyed the wild monkeys and such, but didn't speak highly of Gibraltar, although I suspect it is because I was so dissapointed I couldn't go in.  We went searching for our hotel, which was practically impossible to find, but after finding it, we were pleasently surprised.  It was basically a resort of sorts, but since it was not beach season, it was rathar empty and cheaper.  We ordered some paella from the hotel restaurant and relaxed.  The next day we headed to Malaga, but first stopping in Estepona to walk along the beach, because my mom has a friend that used to live there.  Overall, it was a great Christmas treat, although different from every other year, but we went on some great adventures and it was so good to see my family! I miss them already!!!!!!!

My first taste of Africa!!!: Marrakech, Morocco

The Markets in Marrakech

The spice shop in the Jewish quarters

The cutest little boy selling doughnuts.  He even dropped one on the ground and then put it back in his little basket.  What a cutie!!!!

The Main Square: Djamaa El Fna

MY YUMMY COUSCOUS!!!!!!!

Abby, Ralph, and Me at the Palace in Tangier

For the puente (long break) at the beginning of December (4-8) I went to Morocco with Ralph and Abby.  It was quite a long journey.  We left really early Saturday morning to take about a 5 hour train ride to Algeciras where we caught the hour and a half ferry to a port right outside of Tangier, Morocco.  When we arrived, there was a little confusion of to what time it was exactly and we were waiting for the free bus that would take us in to town.  We were thinking that we missed the train, and were counting on making the bus, but after waiting for a while, we were afraid we were going to miss the bus as well so we agreed to a taxi.  The taxi driver informed us of the actual time though, and it was an hour earlier than we thought and so we wanted to try and make the train if possible, because it was only 8 hours as opposed to the bus which was 12 hours.  The driver said he could make it there, although it was supposedly a 45-60 minute drive away, and it was only 30 minutes until the train was supposed to leave.   What followed was what I thought was literally the end of my life.  He started out at top speed swerving around cars in the opposite lane nearly missing many roadside people standing as well as oncoming traffic.  My door was not shut properly and he made me open it and close it while we were moving so fast! He would not stop for anything! There were no seatbelts and I was about to have a heart attack! He was driving at minimum of 40 kph over the speed limit at all times and swerving around corners that had cliffs down into the great abyss, or what I thought, my gravesite.  I was just thinking, my God, I wonder how long it will take for everyone to find out I'm dead… at least I made it to Africa… they will find my passport in the wreckage… why doesn't this taxi driver have any regard for his own life? But, by some miraculous miracle, we arrived safely (although I was on the verge of having a heart attack still) at the train station and just made it on to the train.  The first leg of the journey was 4 hours and then we changed trains in Casablanca.  In the first leg, there were some nice men in our little train cabin that were Moroccan and told us a little bit about what it was like living in Morocco.  We even got invited to a wedding in Casablanca that night by one of the guys, but we declined because we had already paid for a hostel in Marrakech, the second leg of the train, and didn't have proper attire for a wedding, but that would have been cool.  The second leg of the journey we slept and arrived in Marrakech at about 1 in the morning.  We got a taxi (a much safer ride) to a little street corner where the driver dropped us off and had a man in a big hood that didn't speak English or Spanish to lead us to our hostel.  I was sure he was leading us to be sold in to sex slavery because it was a narrow dark and empty street, but it actually was our hostel, which was relieving, although the woman inside did not speak anything but Arabic.  We finally somehow conveyed that we had a reservation and wanted a bottle of water and then crashed.  The next morning we set out to find our second hostel (Marrakech was pretty crowded and finding a hostel was tough!).  We walked out to the main square looking for our new hostel and were bombarded by people trying to show us where to go for money, but we refused and found it eventually.  After dropping our stuff off, we had some tea on the rooftop of our hostel and then set out to find some lunch.  We had some really yummy lunch in a restaurant in the main square.  The food in Morocco is really good, but as far as at restaurants go, there aren't that many options.  Option #1: CousCous with your choice of meat, and then Option #2: Tagine with your choice of meat (veg, chicken, lamb, sometimes beef).  So yummy, just not a lot of variety.  Anyway, we walked around the square some, saw the monkey and snake charmers that try and throw the animal in your arms so that you have to pay them some money.  Hell no I am not getting near a cobra! Apparently the heat subdues them so that they are not aggressive, so they are only out during the day.  They are sneaky too! I tried to get a picture from afar really zoommed in and there was one of their little minions that came over to me and made me pay money for my picture.  ARRRGGG!!! We walked around the markets for the majority of the day.  They were really fascinating and beautiful, but exhausting because I am obviously foreign (aka, don't have my hair/face covered and have very white skin) and they just chase you down literally if they see you look at anything in the market. Everyone (and by everyone, I mean the men) know Arabic and French fluently and then as a 3rd language speak English or Spanish or both (not fluently usually but enough to get by successfully).  That was really frustrating to not be able to just window shop or look at things a little closer.  And if you were to buy something, the key to the game is bargaining. I am not much of an arguer, so bargaining is up the same-ish ally and I am just not that good at it, but I forced myself to do so, and did quite well on a number of occasions, although I did not end up buying that much.  In the evening we had some food in the main market in the main square and then went to a fancy restaurant where we split a bottle of wine.  This place was one, if not the only, place to get alcohol in all of Marrakech.  The wine was really expensive, but it was nice to have a peaceful atmosphere, have some wine, and look out on to the bustling main square by night.  We retired to the hostel for some late night cards and tea on the rooftop terrace at our hostel before going to bed.  The next day we stopped at this place to try these good looking crepes that are made at little side markets.  Oh my gosh, they were amazing.  They had honey in them and were diVINE! We embarked on our journey to try and find one of the palaces, but on our way trying to find it, a man led us to the Jewish markets, and we ended up in a little booth filled with spices and Moroccan items.  We bought some tea, curry, some spice, and Ralph bought this massage oil made from….. Goat droppings? As explained to us by the man running the little shop, the goat goes in to the tree, eats this specific fruit, relieves itself, and then they make this massage oil out of its droppings… weird.  Anyway, it was a fun little experience to see what they all had to offer while not being pushed to buy everything like in the other markets.  We went out looking for the palaces again, only to find out that they were closed.  We went on a walk in the evening that led us to the non-touristy part of the city over by the high school, which I found very interesting.  All of the kids hang out at school in the evening just talking and playing ball and such.  We had dinner and then went back to the same place for another bottle of wine.  This time there was a belly dancer there, and we didn't even have to tip her! (Meaning she didn’t even ask for tips, which was also refreshing).  The next morning we got some amazing crepes before getting on the train back to Tangier.  It was a long train ride, but when we arrived in Tangier, it was awesome because our hostel was pretty much a palace! It was so beautiful! We went for dinner and as we were walking there a little boy came and tried to pick pocket Ralph.  There were also creepy people following us until we ducked in to the restaurant.  It wasn't even that late! Only maybe 8 or 9, but the city was pretty shady, most likely because it is a port town and a lot of tourists go there.  We retired to the palace and went up in the top gazebo that looked over the city which was pretty to play cards.  The next morning we headed to the port (the safe way this time!) and then took the train back to Granada.  It was a great trip overall, but I must say, pretty overwhelming with needed to pay attention all the time and make sure you are not getting pickpocketed, people yelling at you to buy things, trying not to get run over by horses, people, motorcycles, carts, and donkeys, and maintaining some composure after being stared at all day.  Well, I've been to Africa! Pretty much the most culture shock I've ever had! Even though it was a short trip, that was okay with me.  I think I need to take Africa in doses for now.

 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was quite different this year than usual, but I had a great time.  We had about 11 people come over and had lots of food.  We didn't go to the burden of making a turkey, but we bought some roasted chickens, made lots of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, calabaza frita (fried squash/pumpkin), green bean casserole, veggies, stuffing, apple pie, bread, cheese, ham… and 16ish bottles of wine!  We started the festivities around 5 o'clock and finished at 4:30 in the morning.  It was really fun and a great way to get to know my roommate.  She stayed the whole evening so I got to know her a little better.  She only knows Spanish, so we spent the night talking in English and Spanish with everyone and eating and drinking a lot.  It was a great holiday spent in good company! The picture above is of my roommate (Mari) and me on Thanksgiving!! 

Edinburgh, Scotland

(I didn't actually go to the Scotch Whisky Experience, but I am just not that big of a Scotch fan, but it was still cool to see!)

Back in November from the 18-21st (again a very late post) I went to Edinburgh, Scotland with Abby for the weekend.  We left on the fabulous RyanAir on Thursday evening and arrived late in the night at Craig's best friend Emma's apartment.  After all of our traveling, Abby and I wanted a beer so we went to the nearest pub before it closed to have a fabulous cold, flavorful beer.  It was so wonderful to be able to not only have choices of the type of beer,  but to order from people with wonderfully Scottish accents! After guzzling the magnificent beer in the last 15 minutes before the pub closed, we headed back to Emma's to sleep.  The next day we headed out in to the cold to a restaurant called "Monster Mash" for brunch.  This restaurant had all kinds of mashed potatoes, which the Scottish love.  Abby ordered the veggie haggis (although we had no idea what actual haggis was - sheep's heart, liver, and lungs mixed with onions and spices, etc), and I ordered a fish mashed potatoes.  Oh it was so yummy! And of course, we topped off the meal with some beer… I mean, when in Scotland right!? We went to the Museum of Scotland which was very interesting.  My favorite part was seeing the beheading machine… which now after writing that that sounds very crude, but a man that worked there was talking  about how they loaned out the machine to neighboring cities back in the day when there were the Salem Witch Trials and all that madness.  I just found it interesting.  We headed on to the Edinburgh Castle before it closed.  There we had a tour guide all dolled up in his kilt and again, the Scottish accent.  The view from the castle was breathtaking! I had no idea how amazing Edinburgh was.  However, what was not so amazing was that it got dark outside by about 4/4:30.  So early!  We went and saw the Elephant Café where all of the Harry Potter books were written, but didn't stay there… we wanted more pints! We found a pub called Greyfrier's Bobby, which was named after a dog, and had more awesome beer.  Emma and some of her friends met us there and we went to the campus bar (yes, a CAMPUS bar!), where the beer was cheaper and we could see where the local students hung out.  My friend Luke from the coop met us there.  We went back to Emma's house for some more drinks before going out to this university party.  It wasn't really our style, but it was still interesting.  The apartment's bathroom was bigger than 4 of my rooms put together! We stayed that night at Luke's.  The next day we had planned to go hiking, but unfortunately, true to Scottish weather, it was rainy.  We went to the Holyrood Palace which was beautiful.  We went to another Museum of Edinburgh, which was in a little house kind of that was also interesting.  Usually I am not a museum person, but the Scottish museums were actually quite worth it.  We stopped for tea at a little tea shop before heading to the National Galleries of Scotland, which was free, and very beautiful.  It was so rainy outside and we stopped somewhere to have some fish and chips and beer to get out of the rain and cold.  We went back to Luke's and after brunch the next day we headed to the airport.  I think Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful, cultured, and fun places I have ever been and I really hope to go back one day!